News
Office of Rural Development to become economic driver
The Michigan Department of Agriculture director points to the newly named Office of Rural Development as a way to improve vulnerable areas of the state brought to light by the pandemic.
Gary McDowell tells Brownfield the governor set aside $175,000 in her recent budget recommendations to address specific needs of rural communities.
“Processing across the board would be an economic driver for our small and rural communities, plus hopefully we wouldn’t get into a situation like we were in like last spring when people were going to grocery stores and seeing empty shelves,” he says. “And when it came to broadband, so much of rural Michigan does not have adequate broadband.”
The department’s 2022 and 2023 proposed budget was left unchanged at $116.3 million which includes funds earmarked for technical upgrades with licensing and inspection systems as well as laboratory services. The governor again proposed cutting $1.3 million from the Michigan Animal Agriculture Alliance as done in previous proposals.
